Disability Red Tape Causes Burdens

Veterans Face Backlong, Long Waits

Bob Minton hasn't been able to walk since he had an ankle operation 14 months ago to correct a Korean War injury.

The Veterans Affairs Department put him on temporary full disability pay until he could walk again, but that pay - Minton's only source of income - keeps getting cut.

"I have a girlfriend. If it wasn't for her, I'd be out on the streets with a sign that says, `Need Work,'" said Minton, a Boynton Beach resident who was managing condominium complexes before the surgery. "I'm 60 years old, unemployed, and who's going to hire me in a wheelchair?''

There is now a backlog of about 560,000 claims for compensation across the country, and that figure is expected to grow to 800,000 by mid-1995, a VA official said.

On average, veterans nationwide can expect to wait 181 days for a decision on a claim, the official said. Florida, with an average wait of 140 days, has the best average in the country.

"It certainly is not what they deserve," said Carlos Rain Water, the VA's regional director in St. Petersburg. "In the current environment, that's about as good as we can do."

Even veterans awarded compensation like Minton, whose leg was crushed during a wartime plane crash, can end up frustrated by the red tape they encounter from the VA.

The letters Minton has received from the VA tell him that his records have been reviewed and it has been determined he is recovered, shifting him from full disability to 30 percent disability. That drops his monthly check from $1,790 to $253, he said.

Each time the VA has cut back his disability pay, Minton has supplied information from his doctors showing he still cannot work - information he said the VA already has. He has received retroactive checks for a full disability in April, July, September and November.

Minton has not received full disability pay since November, he said, and he is waiting for a response from the VA to the claim he filed in December.

"We're of necessity making our decisions based on medical evidence," Rain Water said. "Apparently, some of his medical evidence showed he was improving."

The situation confronting the VA is staggering, overwhelming its staff. Agency officials say that a backlog of 350,000 claims would be desirable, but poorer economic conditions - especially among older veterans - have led more people to file claims.

Veterans who have their disability approved during the first review are among the more fortunate. Many veterans have to appeal denials to the Board of Veterans Appeals in Washington, D.C., which is now taking an average of 22 months to hear cases. That board often sends cases back to the regional office for further study, stretching the claim process even longer.

Joseph Coffell, 84, filed his claim in 1991. His claim was denied, but the appeals board sent it back to the regional office for further investigation eight months ago.

The claim still has not been resolved. To Coffell's wife, Dorothy, it is almost as if the VA is waiting for her husband to die.

"The more remote you are from military service, the more difficult records are to obtain," he said.

Coffell, who lives at Holiday Ranch Mobile Home Park near West Palm Beach, wanted to serve his country, so he enlisted in 1950 and served as a Navy Seabee.

During his time in the service, he was involved in a car crash in California and was treated for a nervous breakdown in Japan. He worked after the war, but had ongoing psychological problems and is now seeking 100 percent disability for post traumatic stress disorder. He also has hearing and eyesight problems, prostate cancer and a bone disease.

"The biggest thing is I don't think a vet should have to ask for what he's entitled to," said Dorothy Coffell, 62. "I won't give up. I keep calling, calling, calling."

They live on $984 monthly from Social Security and the $218 monthly the VA pays Coffell to have his wife take care of him. The couple needs the additional money from a full disability designation, Dorothy Coffell said, because she can't care for her husband and hold a job.

"I can't go out to work because I have to be with him 24 hours a day," she said.